My Hectic Home: Making a room that can be played in

We’ve been in our happy little home for more than five years now. When we first moved in, the basement was … well, you can click here to see the spectacular beginning. It had a large carpet remnant as “flooring,” dark green paint and wallpaper for days and zero kid appeal. Within a month of moving in, we added recessed lighting, wall-to-wall carpeting and completely transformed the walls. The result was a cosy space, fit for our son.

But.

Don’t put glass frames on the walls, he said. They’ll never last, he said.

Dang, I hate it when he’s right.

The oldest was only a year old (and an only child) when we moved into our house, but Husband could see the future. Now, not only have most of the glass frames gone by the wayside (read: busted), but the baseboards are now a creative Dalmatian pattern of white paint with flecks of former forest green poking through where hockey pucks have bounced. It’s not pretty, but it’s real life.

More than five years later, it’s time for an upgrade. We have two boys now (ages 6 ½ and 4 ½ -- yes, the halves are important) and they need a space that’s more their speed. Naturally, there’s a Pinterest board for that. It’s filled with big-boy stuff like sports-equipment storage, masculine artwork and oodles of options for Legos and dinky cars.

We started with a purge. The room had been home to a 25-year-old (or older!) pull-out couch and a TV-stand-turned-shelving-unit that had to go. The first went free to the first Kijiji user to lift the monstrous thing out of our basement and take it away and I cashed in the second for $40, which added to my reno budget.

Speaking of budget, there really isn’t one. Raising two kids, keeping house and running two vehicles pretty much sums it up. So our goal is to do this as efficiently and as economically as possible. Now that our slate is more or less clean, here’s what we need to accomplish:

1) Walls: I love the bang for my buck that I get with a new coat of paint and the trim is in need of some serious TLC.

2) Storage: In addition to bins for toys, I’d like to create a reading nook of some kind which I think will be mounted on the wall somehow. *Hopefully* if it’s super organized, it’ll make the kids want to keep it clean? Hahahahahahaha.

3) Decor: Must be kid friendly and durable. Is that redundant?

And, call me crazy, I want to do it in $200 or less. Stay tuned for weekly updates and more regular updates from My Hectic Home to yours.